Post by Kai on Jan 31, 2010 11:31:31 GMT -5
The Elite Eight – the Tower Cities of Earth
“The funny thing about the world, I think, is the diversity that… well. The diversity that isn’t really diversity at all. You’d think with the eight major cities spread out over the entire globe there’d be something… somethingdefining about each one. And I mean the people, the people! Colloquial dialects, but only one language. ‘Traditional’ dress styles worn by anyone, in any city, if they choose to do so – since they can buy it right there – whether normally or celebrating some holiday… some holiday that can’t even be linked to its parent city any longer. Sure, one might be built on a lake and another on an island, but when everyone is connected by the proverbial blink of an eye, everything just blends together. Everyone has a different name but in reality, we’re all pretty much the same. But that’s all going to change. Out there… beyond the cities and beyond the stars. That’s where we’ll find out who we are.” – Adelheid Gozer, Premier of Central City, circa 977 I.R
The great majority (approximately 85% according to the Census of 1010) of Earth’s human population lives, exclusively, within the eight major cities: Asherah, Central City, Champagne, Kestral, Mirror Lake, Sumeral, Telemnos, and Vespar. As the quote above outlines, however, there are far more similarities than differences between the eight cities, with location (and, of course, name) being the primary defining feature. The ‘racial’ makeup of the city populations is largely the same, percentage-wise, from city to city and it should be noted that the idea of ‘race’ refers only to skin color, not to the individual’s place of origin. That being said, ‘racial identity’ is mostly a non-factor, due to the ubiquitous nature of the various skin colors, and is not even included as a data point in the official Census. (Everyone is generically referred to as an ‘Earthling’, and though debate has raged for at least a century over classifying the human population with a more elegant term, none has ever been agreed upon.) Thus, class distinction within the major cities, when it is stressed, exists almost exclusively as an economic division with a secondary expression of distinction lying between those that live within the cities and those who are ‘unprotected’ – i.e., those that come from outside settlements, are roamers/wastelanders, ect. Nevertheless, the homogeneity of Earth’s population makes it so that sports team (i.e. inter-city) rivalries are far stronger than anything related to race (thus, hooligan brawls between competing fans are far more likely to happen than race riots, or anything of that nature) and, with the economic winds of the planet currently blowing very favorably for all of the cities, socio-economic tension is at a historical (post-cataclysm) low.
Religion, too, is a minor point on Earth, with the three historically dominant religions existing, but in low-key, commercial forms. Minor historical religions and ‘neo-religions’ (OOC: made-up ones) exist as well, but there is no ‘religious identity’ for any of the major cities, and the majority of the populace within the cities know as much about religion as they do quantum physics. Religion may or may not enjoy a much stronger presence in the outside settlements, depending on the settlement, but this is largely a non-issue for those within the major cities.
Description-wise, the cities have a defining theme in schematic design and choice of materials. Metals and synthetic alloys and plastics are the common building materials, and the ‘creative logic’ of “up is better” is global – hence the ‘tower city’ phenomenon. Approximately 87% of all buildings within a major city (built within the last century) rise at least 12 stories into the air and may include any number of basement level floors (as determined by the city’s elevation.) Buildings rising over 200 stories into the air are quite common, and every city has at least one ‘Star Spire’ – a building that is constantly under construction and rises far above all other buildings within the city. ‘Star Spires’ are built with the goal in mind to ‘pierce the atmosphere’ and are a major symbol in the ‘race to space.’ Further, nearly every city is circular in ground layout, give or take variations for coastlines. Every city also features a large, heavily guarded perimeter wall, equipped with the best technological defense systems available, for the purpose of keeping monsters (and in the semi-recent past, troops from other cities) out. Externally, the majority of buildings within the cities maintain a sleek, ‘gun-metal sterile’ design, with advertisements existing as interactive holograms, 3D computer generated images, or (more simply) neon, flashing lights. Internal aesthetic design is up to the individual living or owning the building and varies according to that person or group’s tastes, with few common themes existing within a city or between cities. It is the internal aesthetic of individual buildings that follows the ‘variety is the spice of life’ proverb. Citizen dress styles tend to be variable, but remain climate sensitive and this, too, adds a slight touch of variety between the cities.
Technology within the cities is also ubiquitous and even those at the low end of the economic scale enjoy many ‘luxuries.’ There is no area within a major city that does not have electronic access to media and internet outlets, and every citizen has, at least, a very basic datapad for accessing the global network. Clean, running water, electricity – things like this exist everywhere, with any exceptions to this rule being the choice of the owner (or, perhaps, for sections of a city that have been abandoned for whatever reason.) Food is plentiful, with identifiable buildings within each city existing as ‘farms’ and replicator technology ensures that ‘famine’ is a natural disaster that may very well be extinct. The replicators are not perfect, and must have a ‘real’ object to replicate, but the ability to ‘take one carrot and turn it into two-hundred carrots’ (the first successful replication) is an exceptional advantage.
Transportation-wise, few citizens own their own vehicles. Public transportation takes the form of hovercar taxis and buses, an extensive subway and/or monorail systems, and short-range teleportation between city districts. Every city has multiple ‘teleport hubs’ that allow citizens to near-instantly travel between the various districts of the city for a negligible fee. Due to the short-range of the teleportation systems, one may have to travel to two or three districts before arriving at one’s destination, but it still makes traversing the metropolis city’s much quicker – assuming one knows where one is going. Inter-city teleportation also exists, to an extent, with one or two ‘large-scale’ teleport hubs existing on the perimeter of the city. Long-range transport of this nature occurs along a series of hub-points across the landscape. Some of these even exist on ships/man-made islands when the navigation path moves over bodies of water. In-home (whether that residence be an apartment or even multiple floors of a single building for the more economically gifted individuals) technology features environment control (in a reasonable sense – i.e. one can generally not –literally- make it rain within their residence) for temperature, ambient lightning, air pressure and composition, and humidity. Most ‘homes’ also feature robotic servants ranging from automated vacuum-cleaner/sweeper bots to the ultra expensive human-like androids known as ‘ersatz’ (or EZs in colloquial conversations.) Note that the ‘ersatz’ are ‘brand new’, with the first model being produced only 4 years ago, and are not commonly visible in society as of yet.
---A note on the ‘Ersatz.’ As mentioned, these ‘artificial humans’, as they are marketed, are only about 4 years old. While the aesthetic look of the ‘Ersatz’ is quite convincing, their movements have a noticeable ‘jerk’ to them, and their mental faculties are limited to their specific programming. They have only as much personality as their production model incorporates, and cannot be mistaken for a live human, except perhaps at long distance. Despite not being able to function outside of their programming and despite not having the ‘interaction experience richness’ of the interactive holograms, the physical ‘realness’ of these androids has given certain models a cult-like fandom.
Though law and social etiquette vary (more in specifics to law than etiquette) between the cities, there are some general aspects that all eight follow. The government of each city functions as parliamentary body with a single head, known as the ‘Premier.’ Each parliamentary body numbers 98 individuals, with the ‘Premier’ existing as both general public figurehead and as the final, tie-breaking vote on legislation. A single ‘vacant’ vote, to round the number to 100, is ceremonially observed in reverence to ‘those lost’, although the true meaning behind the ritual and setup of the government has long since been forgotten. Members are made up of various self-defined professional ‘castes’, elected representatives from various city districts, individuals represented on a city-wide (read: universal popularity contest) basis, and (within the last 10 years) one representative from each of the other seven cities. Members of the parliament are elected in popular elections within the ‘base’ that the representative comes from (i.e., the hovercar union could not, for example, vote in the popular election to elect the head of the steel workers union.) The ‘Premier’ is elected internally by the 98 other members. ‘Children’ must be enrolled in school until they are 18 years of age (although the ‘legal’ age is defined differently in each of the cities, ‘school age’ is not) and are not allowed to vote in any election other than the ‘school representatives’ (which is for the entire school system for a city) until they are older than 18. One must also be 18 in order to obtain a ‘passport’ that allows access to traveling between the cities (although the expense of travel typically limits those who get ‘passports’ to those of the upper economic class.) Without a ‘passport’, an individual may only travel to another city with a ‘chaperone.’ Chaperones may only claim groups of passport-less ‘children’ under special circumstances, and must get a special pass from the city’s government in order to do so.
“The funny thing about the world, I think, is the diversity that… well. The diversity that isn’t really diversity at all. You’d think with the eight major cities spread out over the entire globe there’d be something… somethingdefining about each one. And I mean the people, the people! Colloquial dialects, but only one language. ‘Traditional’ dress styles worn by anyone, in any city, if they choose to do so – since they can buy it right there – whether normally or celebrating some holiday… some holiday that can’t even be linked to its parent city any longer. Sure, one might be built on a lake and another on an island, but when everyone is connected by the proverbial blink of an eye, everything just blends together. Everyone has a different name but in reality, we’re all pretty much the same. But that’s all going to change. Out there… beyond the cities and beyond the stars. That’s where we’ll find out who we are.” – Adelheid Gozer, Premier of Central City, circa 977 I.R
The great majority (approximately 85% according to the Census of 1010) of Earth’s human population lives, exclusively, within the eight major cities: Asherah, Central City, Champagne, Kestral, Mirror Lake, Sumeral, Telemnos, and Vespar. As the quote above outlines, however, there are far more similarities than differences between the eight cities, with location (and, of course, name) being the primary defining feature. The ‘racial’ makeup of the city populations is largely the same, percentage-wise, from city to city and it should be noted that the idea of ‘race’ refers only to skin color, not to the individual’s place of origin. That being said, ‘racial identity’ is mostly a non-factor, due to the ubiquitous nature of the various skin colors, and is not even included as a data point in the official Census. (Everyone is generically referred to as an ‘Earthling’, and though debate has raged for at least a century over classifying the human population with a more elegant term, none has ever been agreed upon.) Thus, class distinction within the major cities, when it is stressed, exists almost exclusively as an economic division with a secondary expression of distinction lying between those that live within the cities and those who are ‘unprotected’ – i.e., those that come from outside settlements, are roamers/wastelanders, ect. Nevertheless, the homogeneity of Earth’s population makes it so that sports team (i.e. inter-city) rivalries are far stronger than anything related to race (thus, hooligan brawls between competing fans are far more likely to happen than race riots, or anything of that nature) and, with the economic winds of the planet currently blowing very favorably for all of the cities, socio-economic tension is at a historical (post-cataclysm) low.
Religion, too, is a minor point on Earth, with the three historically dominant religions existing, but in low-key, commercial forms. Minor historical religions and ‘neo-religions’ (OOC: made-up ones) exist as well, but there is no ‘religious identity’ for any of the major cities, and the majority of the populace within the cities know as much about religion as they do quantum physics. Religion may or may not enjoy a much stronger presence in the outside settlements, depending on the settlement, but this is largely a non-issue for those within the major cities.
Description-wise, the cities have a defining theme in schematic design and choice of materials. Metals and synthetic alloys and plastics are the common building materials, and the ‘creative logic’ of “up is better” is global – hence the ‘tower city’ phenomenon. Approximately 87% of all buildings within a major city (built within the last century) rise at least 12 stories into the air and may include any number of basement level floors (as determined by the city’s elevation.) Buildings rising over 200 stories into the air are quite common, and every city has at least one ‘Star Spire’ – a building that is constantly under construction and rises far above all other buildings within the city. ‘Star Spires’ are built with the goal in mind to ‘pierce the atmosphere’ and are a major symbol in the ‘race to space.’ Further, nearly every city is circular in ground layout, give or take variations for coastlines. Every city also features a large, heavily guarded perimeter wall, equipped with the best technological defense systems available, for the purpose of keeping monsters (and in the semi-recent past, troops from other cities) out. Externally, the majority of buildings within the cities maintain a sleek, ‘gun-metal sterile’ design, with advertisements existing as interactive holograms, 3D computer generated images, or (more simply) neon, flashing lights. Internal aesthetic design is up to the individual living or owning the building and varies according to that person or group’s tastes, with few common themes existing within a city or between cities. It is the internal aesthetic of individual buildings that follows the ‘variety is the spice of life’ proverb. Citizen dress styles tend to be variable, but remain climate sensitive and this, too, adds a slight touch of variety between the cities.
Technology within the cities is also ubiquitous and even those at the low end of the economic scale enjoy many ‘luxuries.’ There is no area within a major city that does not have electronic access to media and internet outlets, and every citizen has, at least, a very basic datapad for accessing the global network. Clean, running water, electricity – things like this exist everywhere, with any exceptions to this rule being the choice of the owner (or, perhaps, for sections of a city that have been abandoned for whatever reason.) Food is plentiful, with identifiable buildings within each city existing as ‘farms’ and replicator technology ensures that ‘famine’ is a natural disaster that may very well be extinct. The replicators are not perfect, and must have a ‘real’ object to replicate, but the ability to ‘take one carrot and turn it into two-hundred carrots’ (the first successful replication) is an exceptional advantage.
Transportation-wise, few citizens own their own vehicles. Public transportation takes the form of hovercar taxis and buses, an extensive subway and/or monorail systems, and short-range teleportation between city districts. Every city has multiple ‘teleport hubs’ that allow citizens to near-instantly travel between the various districts of the city for a negligible fee. Due to the short-range of the teleportation systems, one may have to travel to two or three districts before arriving at one’s destination, but it still makes traversing the metropolis city’s much quicker – assuming one knows where one is going. Inter-city teleportation also exists, to an extent, with one or two ‘large-scale’ teleport hubs existing on the perimeter of the city. Long-range transport of this nature occurs along a series of hub-points across the landscape. Some of these even exist on ships/man-made islands when the navigation path moves over bodies of water. In-home (whether that residence be an apartment or even multiple floors of a single building for the more economically gifted individuals) technology features environment control (in a reasonable sense – i.e. one can generally not –literally- make it rain within their residence) for temperature, ambient lightning, air pressure and composition, and humidity. Most ‘homes’ also feature robotic servants ranging from automated vacuum-cleaner/sweeper bots to the ultra expensive human-like androids known as ‘ersatz’ (or EZs in colloquial conversations.) Note that the ‘ersatz’ are ‘brand new’, with the first model being produced only 4 years ago, and are not commonly visible in society as of yet.
---A note on the ‘Ersatz.’ As mentioned, these ‘artificial humans’, as they are marketed, are only about 4 years old. While the aesthetic look of the ‘Ersatz’ is quite convincing, their movements have a noticeable ‘jerk’ to them, and their mental faculties are limited to their specific programming. They have only as much personality as their production model incorporates, and cannot be mistaken for a live human, except perhaps at long distance. Despite not being able to function outside of their programming and despite not having the ‘interaction experience richness’ of the interactive holograms, the physical ‘realness’ of these androids has given certain models a cult-like fandom.
Though law and social etiquette vary (more in specifics to law than etiquette) between the cities, there are some general aspects that all eight follow. The government of each city functions as parliamentary body with a single head, known as the ‘Premier.’ Each parliamentary body numbers 98 individuals, with the ‘Premier’ existing as both general public figurehead and as the final, tie-breaking vote on legislation. A single ‘vacant’ vote, to round the number to 100, is ceremonially observed in reverence to ‘those lost’, although the true meaning behind the ritual and setup of the government has long since been forgotten. Members are made up of various self-defined professional ‘castes’, elected representatives from various city districts, individuals represented on a city-wide (read: universal popularity contest) basis, and (within the last 10 years) one representative from each of the other seven cities. Members of the parliament are elected in popular elections within the ‘base’ that the representative comes from (i.e., the hovercar union could not, for example, vote in the popular election to elect the head of the steel workers union.) The ‘Premier’ is elected internally by the 98 other members. ‘Children’ must be enrolled in school until they are 18 years of age (although the ‘legal’ age is defined differently in each of the cities, ‘school age’ is not) and are not allowed to vote in any election other than the ‘school representatives’ (which is for the entire school system for a city) until they are older than 18. One must also be 18 in order to obtain a ‘passport’ that allows access to traveling between the cities (although the expense of travel typically limits those who get ‘passports’ to those of the upper economic class.) Without a ‘passport’, an individual may only travel to another city with a ‘chaperone.’ Chaperones may only claim groups of passport-less ‘children’ under special circumstances, and must get a special pass from the city’s government in order to do so.